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Impossible Owls
On sale
12th November 2020
Price: £9.99
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Hilarious, nimble, and thoroughly illuminating’ Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad
‘Recalls the work of John Jeremiah Sullivan and the late David Foster Wallace, with a dash of Janet Malcolm’ Vogue
From its opening journey into remote Alaska for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS leads us on a kaleidoscopic exploration of contemporary reality. Brian Phillips takes us to a sumo tournament in Japan, the jungle in India, the studio of a great Russian animator, a royal tour of the Yukon Territory with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and into the weird heart of America. This exhilarating debut visits borders both real and imagined, and asks what it means, in our age, to travel to the end of the map.
‘Hilarious, nimble, and thoroughly illuminating’ Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad
‘Recalls the work of John Jeremiah Sullivan and the late David Foster Wallace, with a dash of Janet Malcolm’ Vogue
From its opening journey into remote Alaska for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS leads us on a kaleidoscopic exploration of contemporary reality. Brian Phillips takes us to a sumo tournament in Japan, the jungle in India, the studio of a great Russian animator, a royal tour of the Yukon Territory with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and into the weird heart of America. This exhilarating debut visits borders both real and imagined, and asks what it means, in our age, to travel to the end of the map.
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Reviews
Big, powerful, beautiful essays
An absolute blast . . . I couldn't get enough of this book: Phillips is the perfect adventure guide ? down for anything, talented enough to translate the experience
A rich mix of derring-do, insightful analysis and creative non-fiction . . . funny, sharp, obsessive and very readable
Phillips takes readers down unexpected paths that are as world-expanding as they are entertaining
Phillips is a long-form journalist of the old school, a deep research artist, and a killer stylist. His digressive and frequently hilarious explorations . . . recall the work of John Jeremiah Sullivan and the late David Foster Wallace, with a dash of Janet Malcolm. IMPOSSIBLE OWLS is an absorbing and totally distinctive exploration of wildly disparate corners of our world
Takes you deep into worlds both far-flung and familiar - tiger trails, tiny towns of the Yukon, Route 66, a Walmart parking lot. Brian Phillips riffs and reports with abiding curiosity and incisive humour. A fantastic, transporting read
Again and again, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS proves that Brian Phillips is a cultural codebreaker of the highest order, unlocking the hidden systems of our mad world. Hilarious, nimble and thoroughly illuminating
[Phillips] has now established himself as a master of long form reporting that is indistinguishable from the literary essay, through which he bares witness to our contemporary moment
Witty, pensive, sometimes whimsical, always truthful, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS is testament to Phillips's gift for enchantment, and his genius for knowing exactly where our alienation from the world meets our sympathy for it
These far-flung tales all share the same inspirational spark: Brian Phillips's soulful, intrepid spirit, and his masterful ability at turning everyday curiosities into epic quests that you can't stop reading
Get lost in this captivating essay collection, which brings to life both the extraordinary and the mundane
Brian Phillips's essays are out of this world: big-hearted, exhaustive, unrelentingly curious, and goddamned fun
I love that this is a book of highways and historical touchstones and large geographic shifts. But I also love that at the heart of those bigger things, there is the gentle touch of Brian Phillips underneath it all, creating a landscape for a reader to see not his work, but to better see themselves
Brian Phillips has a way of making you care about the things he cares about in the way he cares about them, which is passionately, almost obsessively . . . invigorating and muscular . . . the book is a must-get